Union South, University of Wisconsin, Madison

By creating distinctive concepts, the UW Union South has become a campus destination.

When it came to creating concepts for the new Union South at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Carl Korz, assistant director for dining services for Wisconsin Unions, says his team wasn’t aiming for just “good.” They were going for “great.” Korz says that a combination of delicious food and restaurant-influenced design elevated the concepts to something special.

“We had 3,000 students involved [in the development] in a meaningful way,” Korz says. “We took the core concepts students said they wanted and said, ‘OK what is going to differentiate us from your average place? What is going to really making this a destination on campus?”

With that goal in mind, the team settled on five distinctive concepts: Ginger Root, Harvest Grains, Prairie Fire, Urban Slice and The Sett.

It was a decision that brought the duo recognition at Monday night’s MenuDirections 2015 awards ceremony in Memphis, Tenn., which is part of FoodService Director magazine’s annual conference geared towards foodservice operators and suppliers.